Available information on the Internet indicates that there are 300,000 competitive swimmers of all age groups and another 40,000 well trained swimmers who swim regularly in the United States. These numbers probably imply that there are roughly one million competitive and/or well trained swimmers in the world, and the number is probably growing rapidly as the income level of people in some of large developing nations is rising rapidly. One swim device that is probably sought by these swimmers and possibly many more millions of regular recreational swimmers is a wearable device that is capable of measuring elapsed time accurately, counting the number of laps in a swim automatically, and making alarm sounds while the swimmer is swimming the last lap or length.
Two types of swim devices are available in the market for the individual swimmer in measuring elapsed time and counting the number of laps: one is a touch panel that is attached to end walls of a lane and is pressed by the swimmer when he/she reaches an end wall, and the other is a chronograph that is worn on a wrist of the swimmer and its start/finish button is pressed by the swimmer. Each type has a different problem: the former may not work well when a plurality of swimmers share the same lane, and the latter will not be able to measure the elapsed time accurately especially in short distance swims.
The swim device described in this invention is aimed to solve those problems in the available swim devices. The basic approach of the invention is to use pressure sensors worn by a swimmer on at least one hand and at least on one foot, and clock key time points such as the start, turns and the finish in a swim. Each of these sensors is connected by wires to a wearable integrated circuit chip (ICC) computer equipped with an internal clock. One of the ICC computers is housed in a chronograph like housing equipped with a display unit and a whistle-sounding alarm for signaling starting and last lap or last length, and worn on a wrist (a wrist unit) in which the ICC computer analyzes sensor data on-line real time and determines whether a turning is made after every turn. The data collected by the other touch pressure sensors worn on other hand and feet and stored in the ICC computers are transferred to the wrist unit via contactless communications and automatically combined together immediately after the swim, and the results are shown on the display of the wrist unit. A serious competitor who requires accurate measurements of elapsed time and splits in a swim could use a fully equipped system, and a recreational swimmer who does not need splits or accurate total elapsed time could use only a wrist unit to which a sensor (or sensors) is/are connected.